new all electric Bee Network service is now live in Salford, connecting the city region’s fastest growing population with retail and economic hubs, previously an underserved area.
Launched on 4 January, the new 30 service is now operating from the Trafford Centre through Trafford Park, to MediaCity, along Ordsall Lane and to the City Centre, servicing hundreds of new homes and connecting the city region’s fastest growing population with retail and economic hubs.
It comes exactly a year on from Greater Manchester becoming the first area outside of London to bring buses under local control after 40 years of deregulation. The move put control of the city region’s buses back in the hands of local decision-makers and communities as part of the Bee Network – the joined-up public transport system run for the people of Greater Manchester.
The new 30 service is the fourth new Bee Network service, after the 629 Golborne to Platt Bridge, 615 Wigan to Middlebrook Retail Park service and the 631 Wigan to Standish.
Ordsall has seen significant regeneration in recent years, with around 1,000 new apartments built along the Ordsall Lane corridor. To support this growth – which mirrors a wider trend across Salford as the area with the biggest population increase in the North West – Salford Council has secured around £2m from local developers to help fund bus improvements for residents.
It’s all part of Greater Manchester’s mission to make public transport better – including a 2030 pledge to ensure 90% of residents are within a five-minute walk or wheeling distance of a bus or tram that comes at least every 30 minutes.
